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Topwater muskies 101
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Walk the dog lures are just a few of the many types of topwater lures on the market today
There is no doubt that topwater fishing is one of the most exciting ways to catch muskies, let alone any other type of fish. Here are a few types of topwater lures and situations to use them in.
The first type of topwater is called a walk the dog style. This is the type generally used by the author, for it is his most successful type of topwater presentation. These lures include Poe’s Giant Jackpot, the Doc, and the Top Glider. Walk the dog lures will often create follows when nothing else will work. Though the fish that are following may not be eating, it will give you spots to come back to at a later time when you feel the fish will be more willing to eat. It is also a presentation that can be extremely effective during lowlight periods over of rocks, thick submerged vegetation, and some emergent vegetation. After enough use, the angler will get a good feel of their pull and the movement that comes from it at the other end and therefore can maneuver it between light lily pads or floating vegetation. The ability to be have pinpoint casting and effective maneuverability will put more fish in the boat due to your lure being in the strike zone for a longer time, versus having a clump of weeds at the end of your line go by them.
The next category of topwaters is prop baits. These include Ty Sennett’s Pacemaker, the Poe’s Awaker, Mud Puppy, TopRaider, or Stomper. These lures are some of the most versatile lures out there. Prop baits can be effective during lowlight, highlight, calm water times, and even times when waves are over a foot high. They are able to make a lot of noise while only requiring a little bit of effort to reel it in. On summers HOT days, they are great to pull fish out of thick submerged vegetation like milfoil. As long as the weeds themselves are under the water by an inch or two, it can easily be run over them. Though they catch a weed while being retrieved, a good hard twitch of the lure will take care of that problem. Propbait topwaters may act similar to bucktails and spinnerbaits because they can be fished both slow and fast, depending on what the fish’s attitudes are. These baits have an extra little trigger for catching fish on figure eights. When a fish is following to the boat, reel the lure to about a foot and a half from the end of the rod, and dip the rod tip below the water’s surface. The bubbly trail will often cause a following fish to be an eating fish.
The last category discussed is a mixed bag. They are lures like the Creeper, Jitterbug, or Hawg Wobbler. They take a little extra care to keep up. The Creeper has two arms that “creep” along as it is reeled in slowly. They flap side to side as the water rolls throw the arms. The Hawg Wobbler and Jitterbug are large baits that have a lip on the front and the Hawg Wobbler also has a small propeller on the back side. They are effective big fish lures because they displace a lot of water while moving relatively slow. This is something that BIG fish love.
It is important to remember to set the hook sideways when fishing topwater lures for muskies. Not only will a sideways hookset prevent the chance of a set of treble hooks coming flying at your face, it will sometimes allow you a second chance if you miss the first time.
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